Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Westeria City: Government Center

Tiko

Tiko

Draconic Administrator/Mentor
Administrator
Mentor
Nexus GM
as written by Tiko and Lobos

The emergency Parliamentary session was already underway, and those gathered were reviewing recent events that had left the TNG in something of a state of crisis.

There was an unease that permeated the outward calm of those seated within the chambers, and the large manila folders that sat upon the desks before the chairmen and ministers were over-stuffed with all manner of reports and rising issues.

"Dirge, could you brief us on the state of the Terran Navy?" Rhea asked as she sat with her fingers steepled, a troubled look in her eyes.

“There isn’t much we do know about the Navy, aside from most of it just seems gone. Some of the chaplains and mages in the military have been muttering about some sort of massive scale powers at play, but our only concrete evidence?” The man sighed heavily, rubbing at the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “They made the routine checks in the morning, and come the evening, a vast majority of them failed to complete the calls. We’ve found no debris, but also no sight of them.”

Unfortunately the disappearance of the Terran Navy was only one of many ills to strike their nation in the past weeks. Even today misfortune continued to fall upon them as several seats sat empty, including that of parliamentary representative from the Northlands.

Torinn growled his words out gruffly as he spoke. "We have entire towns being slaughtered in the north, reports of shadow-creatures in the countryside, and sightings of beasts out of Arthian legends? Is there anything at all that we do know that doesn't read like children's fairy tales?" Torinn growled. "Fifty militiaman from the north ambushed, and no one knows anything?"

"The SRU reports closing three planar rifts right here within the city in the past month alone," another spoke up. "We haven't seen anomalies and chaos of this nature since the early days of the TNG. We need to take action, and immediately."
 
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as written by Ronin

"I concur," the powerful voice of Rubano Malijin boomed throughout the chambers, "whatever strange powers are responsible for the disappearance of our fleets will be investigated - but not now. At this moment, we must turn our attention towards protecting our citizens from these strange new dangers threatening our borders." He briefly consulted a file folder on his desk. "According to these reports provided by the Ministry of Defense, the anomalies responsible for the vanishing of our fleets have had no effect on our ground troops, or for ships that were docked on-planet for repairs or refueling. The entirety of the TAF Marine Command is still accounted for, as are at least thirty Triremes. We are not defenseless."

The chairman thumbed off his glasses, looking first to Torrin, then to Rhea. "We should deploy a battalion to the north and assign an NPA officer to investigate these assaults. I would also propose that we approach the Elysian Vanguard for aid in quelling the chaos-"

He stopped in mid-sentence as a light rumbling shook the entire room. The coffee in his mug rippled and the overhead chandelier jingled and swayed.

"What was that."
 
as written by Script

"The ground has not been entirely spared the impact of these 'anomalies'," the voice of Kynala Evantus, the minister of finance interjected. The alien woman had been uncharacteristically tense in the last few weeks, her regular immutable composure failing her in the face of the recent happenings. "Need I remind you all that the entirety of one of Terra's most influential corporations has vanished entirely from the face of the planet? OmniCorp's headquarters in the business district have been replaced with a bowling alley."

"Could you remind me again what exactly this OmniCorp was?" someone inquired as they rifled through their files.

Kynala's eye visibly twitched in response to the question, her grip on the armrests of her chair tightening. "The culmination of my life's work, is what it was." she retorted sharply, "The forefront of scientific innovation on this planet." she raised one hand, the holographic interface of her OmniTool flaring to life. "The company behind this device, and a significant financial backer of this government in its early stages."

She shook her head, "Irrespective of the economic implications, there are thousands of employees who, as far as I can tell, have simply disappeared!"
 
as written by Tiko and Script

People exchanged awkward glances, and it was clear that nothing Kynala spoke of triggered any sense of recollection among them. The once powerful corporation had seemingly vanished from everyone's recollection as if it had never been.

Meanwhile Rhea who had largely been listening on and absorbing the information being exchanged around the table finally spoke up.

"It appears to me that we are looking at catastrophic planar displacements. The disappearances? The rifts? Can anyone recall anything about how this woman came to be in her current station?" Rhea asked with a gesture towards Kynala. "It is clear that there are powers at work here well beyond our current scope of understanding. If we do not find the source of these calamities, and swiftly, there may not be anything left of Valore to protect. I support Chairman Rubano's proposition to make contact with the Elysian Vanguar-"

While the first rumbling had been subtle enough as to have drawn little more than a few questioning glances, the second shook the table so violently that Rubano's coffee mug tipped over and rolled off the edge where it broke upon the floor.

A few of those gathered half rose from their seats as they looked around the room in alarm.

The minister of justice and former WCPD chief, Alison Sanderson, was amongst those who rose. She made a run for one of the doors and threw it open. "What the hell is going on out there?" she demanded of one of the security guards posted outside.
 
as written by Sokka

Was this a dream or was it the end of the world, maybe he had died and this was what hell was like. Victor had been sitting and listening mostly in silence scratching at one of his hands. There was a small wound where he kept scratching. For a while he was convinced that all of this was just a dream but it seemed it wasn't. People were missing others had appeared and he was hearing things he had never heard of. Hell he woke up to a strange family in his apartment. Now here he was listening to the meeting, names of places had changed some of them even though he had never heard of them oddly seemed familiar.

Victor seemed oblivious to the shaking and concerned looks of the other members, he just kept scratching at his hand. Victor stood to speak he seemed oblivious to the world around him. "Gonthar is in chaos cities are reporting looting's and widespread panic. The local governor, a woman who I've never met is asking me for to appeal for the implementation of Martial Law. "Victor said before he noticed that he had stood to speak after Alison had gone to inquire about the guards. It was obvious he wasn't in the right mindset at the moment. As others panicked Victor was left standing there in silence now hands trembling.
 
as written by Ronin

Rubano made no response to mentions of Omnicorp, keeping his attention carefully focused on Kynala. His black eyes stared fixedly at the former CEO, watchful, unblinking.

The chairman watched as Rhea was cut off, another quake rocking room. He put out a hand to steady himself, watching as his coffee mug tumbled over the desk onto the floor. He looked at the broken glass, his silence betraying his concern. These were not earthquakes.

The security guard outside could only bumbled to Sanderson, unsure himself what was going on. "I'm sorry ma'am, I have no idea. Something's happening in the city. Command is in frenzy... There should be a squad coming up from security to clear things up..."
 
as written by Lobos

The visor-less plate of a helm studied the building across the plaza, shrouded in the deepest shadows of the alley it's owner rested in. Ancient armor covered its body, an imposing, blackened and bloodstained arcane relic of days long passed. A tattered cloak of shadows writhed on phantom winds in the still air behind it, in each hand clasped a double-edged longsword, evidence of long, strenuous use marring their flat's, yet the edges were as keen as ever. Slipped into the city under the cover of it's mammoth brethren, it's purpose here was similar.

Wreak hell.

Yet Pariah's job was much more...to the point. And to that end, it studied the government center, the parliament building. Defying the flash of light against metal, his grips tightened and twisted the blades slightly, tension etching his figure for a brief instant.

Thunder cracked, concrete veritably exploded under foot as he shot forward as though fired from a cannon. The waves of sound breaking blasted from his armor as he exploded across the gap between his vantage point and the building. Blades out to the sides, his strides ate meters in fractions of seconds, defying adequate response times before he reached the front doors.

Arms pistoning forwards to project his vambraces ahead of him, he met the front entrance doors like a hurricane wind, impacting and blasting through as though they were no more than paper, one smashed cleanly off hinges that screamed like the damned and skipping from the walls like a deadly discus, the other impact the opposite wall hard enough to embed its twisted metal frame in the masonry. Following the action, those arms slashed outwards as his next step blasted shrapnel from the floor, his brief loss of speed once again going supersonic, slashes of focused kinetic power coming from the blades he carried to scythe the air ahead of him to eliminate resistance before he met it.

The Pariah had come.
 
as written by Ronin

The spotters in the TNG Government Center had no chance to adequately warn the guards in the lobby of the impending attack. The Pariah was a blur - flying across the plaza with impossible speed and ramming the front entrance without ceremony. The blast rocked the lobby, the three enforcers stationed at the front entrance immediately shaken. The one closest to the door fell to his back, bits of glass peppering his helmeted face. "What the fuckin-" He growled, holding his breath as a huge scythe of kinetic energy seared over his head. It hit one of his still-standing comrades square in the chest, his entire shield reserves giving out in one moment, his armor denting like crushed cardboard. He was thrown back against the lobby desk - still breathing, barely.

The enforcer on the ground grit his teeth, doing his best to bring his aether rifle to bear and popping a few bolts of superheated plasma-manna charges at the blurring figure of the Pariah. He roared through his vox - terrifically horrified and furiously brave all at once.

The third, stationed near one of the hallways when the Pariah came through, had the best advantage. She had completely avoided the shrapnel of the blast and the scythes of energy shot out from the intruder's blades. She readied her aether rifle, sharp eyes flickering as she focused to get a clear shot on her foe.

---

Deeper into the Government Center, the debates would cut to a swift halt as a stampede of armored boots resounded outside the main doors. A moment later, a small squad of NPA enforcers and TAF guardians stormed into the room. They took up positions around the chamber, metal plates on their armor clicking and shifting as they hurried to secure the perimeter.

"Chairmen, ministers," a marine stepped forward, the only one with a visible face. His armor was different than the others - less metallic, with a slightly gold glow eminating somewhere behind him. Anyone familiar with the ranks of the TAF might have noticed the eight-pointed star crested on his shoulder - a TAF oracle, the psyker marines of the TNG.

"Westeria is under attack by supernatural forces," he continued, his voice even and calm - despite the layer of sweat mopping his forehead. "A tactical squad is en route, but we need to evacuate you immediately into the underground shelter beneath this building." He nodded towards one of the back doors. "Please follow me. We need to get below ground as fast as possible."
 
as written by Script

"Gods almighty, can't one of you just look out a window?" Alison demanded, shaking her head irritably.

It wasn't long after that, that the squad of troops arrived. Alison had moved back from the door in exasperation to wait for an update from the guard, but remained on her feet near the entrance, and so she was one of the closest ministers to the arriving marines.

She bit back questioning the man, recognising that in his position, she'd just want the politicians to shut up and do as they were told. Instead, she simply nodded, turning to the rest of the room even as some of the assembled men and women started to buzz with demands and questions.

"Do what the man says," she advised sternly, "We can ask questions once we're out of the line of fire."

Kynala was busy tapping at her OmniTool, simultaneously activating its personal defensive systems and going online to find news. "A dragon?" she muttered under her breath as she scrolled briefly through social media feeds, "We've dealt with dragons before without this much fuss... It must be a particularly unpleasant one."
 
as written by Lobos

The sheer, overwhelming speed of the Pariah was his perfect defense at the moment. Moving at slightly faster than the speed of sound, he wasn't merely fast, he was a streaking blur of nearly imperceptible movement that scarcely could be tracked bye the naked eye. Over 1,100 feet per second, any glass within the room likely rupturing in his wake as it took him a scant 0.006 seconds to move a single, 150 foot pace halfway through the entrance hall, followed by a sudden, violent nearly vertical leap that that sent him crashing through the ceiling, twisting in the 0.03 seconds of his leap to plant feet on the ceiling of the floor above and launch himself at those blisteringly fast speeds down the hall.

Any shots that had been fired at him were left so far in his wake as to prove a non-existent threat. The reactions of the defense forces likely had been under the impression of a direct assault for a more conventional means to the next floor, and thus called accordingly. Even should they prove quick enough to correct their assessments, the confusion of the conflicting information would buy him time to go about his task, trivially. A single, final burst of insane mobility launched him down the hall for the ornate double doors at the junction ahead in 0.05 seconds, culminating in a shoulder driving in and slamming them apart.

Wood disintegrated under the blow, metal framing squealing like a stuck pig as it rent. Pausing a moment to better allow the shock to set, Pariah lashed out next not with physical force, but fell magicks, shadowy energies boiling like a toxic cloud around him in a broad aura. If there were TAF personnel or politicians within a 15ft radius of that point, they would fell at risk for falling victim to the very thing that culled the first true deaths of his assault, as citizens and nearby reporters cried out and screamed, the etherial essences of their very souls being dragged from their bodies by claws of darkness that caught and dragged towards the armored figure. Those only partly caught in the area of effect had but portions of their spirits torn from them, the stripped limbs shriveling black and grey, flaking as though that of an aged corpse. These souls and torn essences poured into the hole on the Pariah's chest, flares of sickly blue light leaking from the seams of the armor as what was within consumed them. But one of the many powers available to the Pariah, a soul-reaving aura.

"Now, we begin." An inhuman voice rasped from the figure.

The Pariah had arrived, and the slaughter was about to commence.
 
as written by Ronin

The doors splintered, soldiers and politicians scattering as heavy strips of wood and metal rained into the podiums. The Pariah's entrance was heralded in by a chorus of exasperated death - four unfortunate troops and a politician gasping at the shadows writhing over their bodies, their cries withering in their throats as their flesh rotted before their eyes, their very souls stripped from their bodies in an instant. They fell to the ground, grey, empty husks.

More should have died, but the unholy aura was suddenly halted at half its normal area of effect, a barrier of faint, golden light stemming the waves of black. The oracle stood behind it, veins pulsing in his forehead, psychic and arcane energy pouring out of him.

"Get them out of here!" he spat. His eyes shut tight, his power charging, building. When they opened, they were without pupil or sclera, glowing a bright, fierce gold. "YAAAAAHHH!" he roared, sending a tidal wave of psionic energies directly at the Pariah. Desks upturned, the marble floors disintegrated. The broken remains of the chamber's doors splintered into a gaping crater.

If the Pariah was successfully pushed out, the oracle would quickly seal the entrance and the entire surrounding wall in an energy field, drawing on the vast reserves of strength in his Wicker Suit for support. The surrounding soldiers moved quickly, ushering the politicians through the back door as fast they could. Those that could not run would be carried.
 
as written by Script

As one of the few politicians who had moved near to the door, Alison was amongst those exposed to Pariah's unholy energies. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) for her, the oracle's swift defense spared her from being killed on the spot. Despite that, however, her closeness to the door meant that the twisted aura clipped her side. Her left arm and leg both shrivelled into corpse-like husks, and the side of her torso and face greyed and began to flake, one eye gruesomely drying into bone-white blindness.

Her scream of pain was ragged and short-lived as the ghastly magic stole the air from her lungs, and by the time she hit the floor little more than a gasp emerged from her lips. The half of her body that remained functional clawed desperately at the floor in an attempt to pull herself away from Pariah, whilst her two cadaverous limbs dragged limply behind her.
 
as written by Tiko and Sokka

Clearing the room was easier said than done. At the sight of the withered husks that littered the floor around Pariah, sheer and utter panic spread through the room. People clambered over furniture - and each other - in a wild panic to escape the confines of the room. People tripped and fell only to be trampled upon by their fellows, and the door itself was scarcely accommodating of their numbers. People pushed and shoved to be the first to reach the door, and it was all the soldiers could do to maintain an orderly evacuation.

As chaos unfolded and guards screamed for him to move Victor remained motioneless. What's going on? This has to be a dream. He thought to himself, however something in the back of his mind was screaming at him to move, but he couldn't he felt frozen.

A firm grip closed around Viktor's arm, and fingers dug into his skin to try and snap him out of his daze.

"Come. You must move, quickly," Rhea told him.

Victor stood still until he felt Rhea's hand on his arm. He didn't move but he turned his head to her. "This can't be real can it?" He asked softly almost in a whisper.

"Victor," Rhea said firmly to get him to look at her. "Victor. If you stay here, you will die."

Already the delay at trying to get Viktor moving had left them at the tail end of a bottle-neck of terrified politicians clambering and shoving against each other in their panic to get out the back door.

Victor looked at Rhea, he heard her but what she was saying wasn't right. "Aren't we already dead? I've already come to two conclusions Prime Minister, I'm either dreaming or we're dead..." He said his voice soft still.He turned to face her but he still did not budge.

"Prime Minister, there's no time. We need to get you out of here," a soldier told her ugently as he lay a hand on her arm to usher her along with the others.

Torinn it would seem found a more direct solution to the problem as he caught sight of them while pushing his way past chairs and people. He scarcely broke his stride as he simply tossed Viktor over his shoulder like a child.

"Lost his mind, this one," Torinn grunted.

Victor attempted to struggle once he was picked up. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE DON'T YOU ALL SEE?" He shouted he punched Torinn weakly but nothing serious. "ALL IS LOST WE'RE DEAD!"
 
as written by Tiko

As Torinn moved off with Viktor, Rhea cast her eyes about for Max as she tried to assess their situation, and who among them still stood that were capable enough to slow something like the Pariah down.

She couldn't spot him in the chaos though.

Her mind turned instead to weaving a web of illusions that would buy them much needed time. Unfortunately she had barely begun to draw up the first threads when she let out a gasp. Her hand went to her chest and she gripped at the cloth of her shirt as if in pain. She tried to breathe through it, but it blinded her and left her staggering. She stumbled and caught herself upon a chair but it toppled beneath her and spilled her onto the floor. As she crumpled, a devastating crash shook the city as a dragon crashed into Hagan Avenue only a few blocks away.

"Shit," one of the soldiers at her side cursed as he spoke into his comm device. "The Prime Minister is injured. We need another team up here now."

He got her back to her feet with the assistance of another, even as they struggled to keep her from being trampled underfoot. There was no apparent sign of injury upon her, but the woman had grown pale as if in a state of physical shock.

"I'm alright," she told them as the momentary episode started to subside, but they weren't hearing much of it. With a soldier on either of her arms, they worked their way closer to the door. There was a lot of people ahead of them yet though.
 
as written by Script

Kynala was in the midst of the panicking mob at the door, an expression of cold determination on her face as she used the glowing OmniTool on her arm to shove her way through the crowd. If she were capable of sweating, then no doubt her forehead would be slick with it, as she barely suppressed the panic welling in her chest.

One of the men she shoved aside with the force of her device lost his footing and fell. Kynala didn't stop to see if he got to his feet in time before he was trampled.

She was almost at the door now. She would survive this. She would escape, and she would live, and she would figure out what had happened to her that not one of her colleagues remembered who she was.
 
as written by Lobos

Head cocking slightly as the lone opposition built energy around him, warding. Charging. Releasing an exasperated hiss, Pariah cut his reaving aura, tensing subtly.

When the wave came, Pariah burst into movement, a hard, violent hop to the right, enhanced strength propelling him with enough speed to appear as though he virtually teleported to the wall, boots slamming hard halfway up the height of the room. Bracing and shifting, he erupted explosively in a leap that sent him the opposite direction and forward, a half-seen blur that sailed left and forward, angling downwards to slap against the wall almost a beeline to the oracle's left.

Slamming down on a citizen who's scream was cut short as his body broke under the armored nightmare's weight, he didn't pause as he blasted into a sliding lunge that twisted, twinned swords slashing like a blender, chewing into the terrified, scurrying bystanders around him as he boiled directly for the psyker, intent to rend him into bloody pieces. Body parts flew into the air in his wake as his action slashed into arms, hands, legs, faces, torsos, blood blossoming like a macabre rain.

Energy snapped and crackled within his armor, wytchfire blazing from the hole within the helm's mask. Pariah wasn't intending to be blocked again, and prepared accordingly.
 
as written by Lobos

Max cursed as the rushing crowd jostled him away from Rhea, forcing him to scramble to not be crushed in the press trying to burst through the rear doors. Sharply placed elbows and jabs from stiff fingers served him well, as he struggled to maintain his view on the creature that had attacked the room.

It was fast, fast as hell. Watching, the man felt more than a little fear as he watched it's latest movements, struggling to keep his eyes on it. A few times, he had to frantically search where he'd seen it heading, losing track of the blur.

"Time to go." The sounds of people screaming, of the grunts and cries of pain, and Max discounted the back door. Calling on his powers, he shoved through the press to slap a hand on the back wall to the right of the door, shoving his magic into it. Smoke curled and billowed, as the intense heat ate through the wood and plaster, burning a sizable hole in the wall as the hot ash washed into the hall behind.

"Move it people, stop crushing each other!" Slapping the first few on the shoulders and backs as they split the traffic between the openings, Max kept glancing back towards the monster and the oracle facing off.
 
as written by Ronin

But before the murderer could complete his rampaging blur, he would be intercepted by a swinging nanosteel bleed to his chest, arcing in the hands of a guardian who stood off to the side of his path. The marine had prepared the attack the moment the Pariah had landed on the back of an unfortunate civilian - had begun extending his melee weapon before he had even turned to look at his target. While the Pariah's supersonic speeds easily confused the eye, each soldier in the room was equipped with a scouter. Attuned to the assassin's sickly energy signature, the defenders of the Government Center would know where the Pariah was at every waking moment.

The oracle did not move, fists raging at his side as he began charging his wards once more. Two guardians came up behind him, one on either shoulder. They raised their rifles in unison, taking aim at the approaching villain with deadly accuracy. Brrrraaackk! Bursts of blue-white gunfire streaked out of their sixers, supercharged gauss slugs powering from their rifles at a significant fraction of the speed of light. The oracle focused as they fired, a bit of the golden aura that surrounded him extending to his comrades. He waited.

"Come on you filth," he spat, his eyes lightning-clouds of gold and white. "Come on..."

Meanwhile, Rubano Malijin was on the move. While initially caught up in the crowd moving towards the back entrance, he halted at the sight of Allison flailing on the floor, struggling against her grievous injuries. Growling, the minister dug his heels into the carpet and turned back - fighting his way through the frenzied mobs up to the front. As the guardians finished their volley, he moved - sprinting across the battleground - not twenty feet from the Pariah - to Alison's side.

"Minister?" he knelt beside her (assuming the Pariah didn't try to intercept), "minister can you hear me?" He winced at her shriveled half but did not recoil, pushing his arms underneath her body and attempting to carry her.
 
as written by Lobos

Underneath the helmed visage of the Pariah, the teeth of a corpse clacked together in a devil's grin.

Suddenly, Pariah's signature was in two places at once, his form twisting as he tracked the movements of the guardians, adjusting to have his very body simply not be where the barrels were lined once fired, yet his leading form had begun to vanish, a grotesque cross section of the armor and the heavily mechanized skeletal creature underneath coming in view, still moving forward in a blur, yet horrifyingly, what had vanished slid from the very empty air a scant two feet behind the guardians and the oracle, the death's head grin cracking open as the victorious howl. "CHECKMATE!"

A planar door, a simple pathway within the very selfsame plane of existence it started on that tricked the very world into stepping into nothing, of striding from the air. The bursts would miss cleanly, hammering into the scrambling, terrified civilians at the Pariah's back, while the Pariah's blades pistoning forward with thundering reports, claps of thunder that would feel as though slaps to the chest, slaying sound and hammering into thrusts delivered at Mach 2. These he drove towards the Guardians backs. Should they slam home through armor, flesh, and bone, they would spread a deathly chill, a far more focused essence of Pariah's reaver aura bound within their eldritch runes.

And even then, Pariah unleashed his own wave of power, a rupture of daemonic fury that was like a battering ram directly between the two, a maul of lambent, chaotic energy aimed to slam into the oracle, packing enough punch to slam the defender as though swatted by the hand of a giant. The servant wanted to break the man, to grind him through the walls of the chamber, a broken figure defeated in the knowledge of his own impotence, the knowledge that he had failed.
 
as written by Script

Alison's crawl had slowed to little more than a spasm by the time Rubano reached her. Her eyes were half lidded and her face contorted in pain, but there was a flash of recognition in her gaze when she saw him approach. She opened her mouth and an agonised gasp escaped her lips, her breathing ragged. "N-no time..." she croaked, her voice almost inaudible as Rubano lifted her. The movement caused a fresh surge of pain and she groaned, shuddering violently in his arms.

____

In the meantime, Kynala had shoved her way through to the front of the pack of fleeing politicians. She all-but jumped down the stairs towards the ground floor, taking off at a run in the direction of the lobby. She mentally cursed her attire - the smart, formal Irian suit dress was fashionable but far from functional. It was making running for her life unfortunately difficult. She'd almost tripped on her way down, and only righted herself by using another of her colleagues as a leaning post.

Almost there now. She just had to reach the exits. Then the TAF would be able to teleport them away to safety, she was certain. Curse her bodyguard for disappearing when the anomalies occurred! If she still existed, Kynala would have made sure she never worked again.
 
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